My wife Carolina had received a traffic ticket, and I was going
to defend her as her attorney. I had received notice that the
trial was going to take place in County Criminal Court #2 in
Dallas. I was surprised by this because I knew this was judge Schwille's court, and I hadn't thought that
traffic tickets were handled in his court; I had thought that the
case would have been tried in a municipal court. But I was glad
that the trial would be in Schwille's court, because I
thought Schwille liked me and that I had a good chance of winning
in his court.

***

Carolina and I were in
Schwille's court, and the case against her was in process.
When we had first entered, other people had been in the
courtroom. But now only the people connected with our case were
here. The prosecutor was a woman probably in her late 30s.
Carolina and I were standing and listening quietly as the
prosecutor harshly questioned a witness. Schwille finally noticed
me and told me I needed to sit down. He was correct – I should
not be standing while a witness was being examined. But I had
thought that the hearing was rather informal, and that it didn't
matter if I was standing. Nevertheless, following Schwille's
instructions, I sat down and the questioning continued.

Carolina sat down next to me on
my left and held tightly to my arm. I was uncertain whether
Schwille knew she was my wife, but I thought he would probably
figure it out when he saw that Carolina and I had the same last
name, and when he noticed how closely she was sitting next to me.

I thought about how I was going
to defend Carolina. I thought that if she were going to be found
not guilty, she would have to say that she was going between
25-30 miles per hour, because the speed limit
was 30 miles an hour. She could even say that she was going
at 30 miles an hour. She could say that she looked down at
the speedometer when the cop put on his lights, and had seen that
it read 30 miles an hour.

I knew she had been charged
with going at 47 miles an hour, and I knew she had
indeed been driving over the speed limit. I didn't want her to
have to lie, but lying was the only way to win. Unless Schwille
had some evidence that she wasn't guilty, he would be forced to
find her guilty.

***

The trial ended and Schwille
found Carolina not guilty. He berated the prosecutor for
something she had done wrong. But I felt Schwille had probably
found Carolina not guilty because he liked me.